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Educational Arson


Educational Arson is a book of poetry for anyone who is passionate about anything. The poems in this book use fire as a metaphor for learning and passion in all forms and stages, for learners and teachers alike. You can order a copy at bit.ly/EdArson or for an autographed copy, click here.

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Wishing for Trouble

 I didn't get in trouble today, and that's a problem. The day is young. There's still time. And I'm sure that my parent letter tomorrow will be met with resistance from several readers. But I should have gotten in trouble today. I was already worried yesterday about how to approach yesterday's treasonous insurrection with my students. Like you may know, though I'm in the middle of my career, this is the first time I've been a grade-level teacher with a classroom of students of my own. You also may know that I'm in a very conservative part of a very conservative state - my neighbor, a Guatemalan immigrant, still has his Idahoans for Trump flag flying proudly because he's white. My other neighbor, who is a Vietnamese immigrant also complains about the "immigrants who are stealing our jobs" when I see her at the mailbox. That's where I'm from. There's the context about what America looks like for some of you who might not see how d

A List That Actually Matters

I sort of wanted to give this post a cutesy title, like "My Edu-Valentines," but I'm incredibly serious about this. Yesterday, two of my favorite people on the planet, people I like and admire, were included in an exceedingly disappointing list of inspirational educators . (excuse me, "educationists.") They were both livid. As they should have been. The list was lily white and lacking women. Most of the people were not actually  teachers - which you know, makes them a lot less inspirational to those of us who spend our days surrounded with the bright future of the world. AND THEN, after being called out for the poor quality of the list, the author - who is not a teacher, but a "blogger and digital marketing biz" person and moderator of #GuruChats - about branding (of which I have  many thoughts ) - asked for suggestions to improve it. Okay, the first one is do your homework, don't run an algorithm. But then I took a couple of moments to sc

Hands on top...*

This whole post might be off, but I don't think so. | Source  Everyone has a Thing in education they just can't abide. I've worked with teachers who disagree with numbering students or allowing bathroom breaks outside of lunch and recess. There's the much maligned clip chart. I personally lose my stuffing when teachers keep students out of Music because they're missing work in class. But there's something else that's creeping up right behind that as my number one classroom no-no. Attention Getters. You know, the Power Teaching "Class" - "Yes" or the sing-songy call and response, "One, two, three. Eyes on me!" - "One, two, eyes on you!" There's a million of them, as many as there are really great teachers who use them. I certainly don't want to disparage the teachers who rely on them. Teachers use what works for them, and we're all individuals, right? Well, yes. Of course. But my problem is t